Systems and Methods for Utilizing Vehicle Connectivity in Association With Payment Transactions

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are exemplary embodiments of systems and methods for utilizing vehicle connectivity to facilitate payment account transactions. One exemplary method includes, in response to a detected interest of a consumer, requesting sales data associated with the consumer interest from at least one merchant based on a location of a vehicle associated with the consumer, and creating an order object for a product selected from the sales data. The method also includes appending a vehicle signature, for the vehicle, to the order object, and matching the order object to a transaction object for the selected product based on the vehicle signature. The method further includes transmitting a purchase order to the at least one merchant based on the order object and the transaction object, thereby permitting the at least one merchant to facilitate a payment account transaction for the selected product.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/371,494 filed Dec. 7, 2016, which claims thebenefit of, and priority to, U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/264,203filed Dec. 7, 2015, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/312,157filed Mar. 23, 2016. The entire disclosure of each of the aboveapplications is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods forutilizing vehicle connectivity in association with payment accounttransactions. More particularly, the present disclosure relates tosystems and methods for facilitating payment account transactions basedon vehicle signatures, and potentially, further, for accessing paymentaccount credentials, delivering advertising content, providing vehicleaccess, and/or to enabling merchant payments based thereon.

BACKGROUND

This section provides background information related to the presentdisclosure which is not necessarily prior art.

Products (e.g., goods, services, etc.) are known to be offered for sale,and to be sold, by merchants. In connection therewith, consumers areknown to purchase products from the merchants through payment accounts.Separately, consumers are also known to travel in vehicles to themerchants to purchase products, and/or to other locations. Typically,the merchants are located along the consumers' routes of travel to thoselocations, and the vehicles are known to include functionality to guidethe consumers to those locations (i.e., navigation). Further, networkconnectivity has extended to such vehicles, for example, in the form ofroad side assistance features and network access for mobile devices inproximity to, or within, the vehicles.

DRAWINGS

The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only ofselected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are notintended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system of the presentdisclosure suitable for utilizing vehicle connectivity, and vehiclesignatures associated with corresponding vehicles, in association withpayment account transactions;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a computing device that may be used in theexemplary system of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method, suitable for use in thesystem of FIG. 1, for utilizing vehicle connectivity in association withpayment account transactions.

Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughoutthe several views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Exemplary embodiments will now be described more fully with reference tothe accompanying drawings. The description and specific examplesincluded herein are intended for purposes of illustration only and arenot intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

Consumers often use payment accounts to fund transactions for productsat merchants (e.g., for goods, services, etc.). In performing suchtransactions, interactions between the consumers and the merchants mayvary depending on, for example, relative locations of the consumers andmerchants (e.g., in person interactions, virtual interactions, etc.),types of payment accounts involved, types of products being purchased,etc. Uniquely, the systems and methods herein provide for interactionsbetween consumers and merchants through vehicles associated with theconsumers (e.g., through vehicle connectivity of such vehicles and usingsignatures associated with such vehicles, etc.). In particular, adecision engine may be provided, which, in response to a detectedinterest of a consumer (i.e., a known or potential interest), requestssales data related to the interest from one or more merchants and thenprovides the sales data to the consumer at the vehicle. The consumer maythen be able to view, browse, and select a product from the sales data,through the vehicle, for example, whereby the selection is provided backto the decision engine, and also to a transaction engine. The decisionengine creates an order object (e.g., including a productidentifier/description, etc.), which includes a vehicle signature fromthe vehicle, and separately, the transaction engine creates atransaction object (e.g., including payment account credentials, etc.),which also includes the vehicle signature from the vehicle. The orderobject and the transaction object are then brought together andcompared. If the vehicle signatures match in the two objects (and/or,potentially, match a reference vehicle signature), then a purchase orderfor the product selected by the consumer is transmitted to the merchant(e.g., by the decision engine and/or the transaction engine, etc.),which in turn acts to facilitate a payment account transaction for theproduct (e.g., based on the payment account credentials included in thetransaction object, etc.). In this manner, the vehicle signatureprovides a basis for authentication of the request for the purchase ofthe product, thereby improving security and/or fraud protection relatedto the ultimate payment account transaction for the product, and mayfurther provide a basis for identifying and/or invoking one or moreloyalty/rewards programs (or value-added service(s)) for the paymentaccount transaction.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system 100, in which one or more aspectsof the present disclosure may be implemented. Although, in the describedembodiment, the system 100 is presented in one arrangement, otherembodiments may include the system 100 arranged otherwise, depending,for example, on processing of payment account transactions, connectivityassociated with vehicles, types of vehicle signatures utilized, etc.

Referring to FIG. 1, the system 100 generally includes, in connectionwith facilitating payment account transactions, a merchant 102, anacquirer 104 associated with the merchant 102, a payment network 106,and an issuer 108 configured to issue payment accounts to consumers,each of which is coupled to network 110. The network 110 may include,without limitation, a wired and/or wireless network, a local areanetwork (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) (e.g., the Internet, etc.), amobile network, and/or another suitable public and/or private networkcapable of supporting communication among two or more of the illustratedparts of the system 100, or any combination thereof. In one example, thenetwork 110 includes multiple networks, where different ones of themultiple networks are accessible to different ones of the illustratedparts in FIG. 1. In this example, the network 110 may include a privatepayment transaction network made accessible by the payment network 106to the acquirer 104 and the issuer 108 and, separately, a public network(e.g., the Internet, etc.) through which the merchant 102 and theacquirer 104, and/or other parts of the system 100 (e.g., a vehicle 116,etc.), may communicate (e.g., via network-based applications, etc.).

In the system 100, the merchant 102 offers products (e.g., goods and/orservices, etc.) for sale to consumers, such as consumer 112. As shown inFIG. 1, the consumer 112 is associated with multiple different paymentdevices, generally indicated at 114, that can be used in connection withpurchasing products from the merchant 102. Specifically in FIG. 1, theconsumer 112 is associated with payment devices 114 that include: asmartphone/tablet (broadly, a computing device, etc.), a fob paymentdevice (e.g., a key fob for the vehicle 116, etc.), a jewelry paymentdevice (e.g., a near-field communication (NFC) enabled ring, etc.), anda wristband payment device (e.g., a smartwatch, another watch, a FitBit™wristband, a Nymi™ wristband, etc.). It should be appreciated that thepayment devices 114 associated with the consumer 112 may include otherdevices such as, for example, payment cards, or other mobile, wearable,or carry-able devices or accessories that can be suited or configured tocommunicate with one or more point-of-sale (POS) terminals (e.g.,wireless network enabled, (e.g., NFC enabled, Bluetooth enabled, etc.),etc.) and employed as payment devices as described herein. It shouldfurther be understood that, while not specifically referenced as apayment device 114, the vehicle 116 included in the system 100 may alsobe understood to be a payment device when, or if, configured and/orprovisioned by the appropriate network-based application(s) (e.g., in asimilar manner to the illustrated smartphone/tablet payment device 114,etc.). With that said, each of the payment devices 114 (including thevehicle 116, when appropriate) may be provisioned with payment accountcredentials as associated with at least one payment account for theconsumer 112, such that the payment devices 114 each include a primaryaccount number (PAN) for the consumer's payment account, a tokenassociated with the payment account, and/or any other indicia associatedwith or identified to the consumer's payment account. In addition, thepayment devices 114 may be independently powered (e.g., such as thewristband/watch or smartphone/table, etc.), or powered when disposed inproximity to a point-of-sale (POS) terminal (e.g., such as the ring,etc.).

When the consumer 112 uses the smartphone/tablet (or potentially one ofthe other payment devices 114), or another mobile computing device, as apayment device 114, it should be appreciated that the smartphone/tablet(or other computing device or other payment device 114) includes one ormore network-based applications configured to enable thesmartphone/tablet to be a payment device (broadly, a transaction engine122, or part thereof, as described hereinafter). Exemplary network-basedapplications include electronic wallet, or e-wallet (or virtual wallet),applications such as, for example, Masterpass® from MasterCard, ApplePay® from Apple, Samsung Pay® from Samsung, etc., or other applicationsrelated to and/or interacting with the merchant 102 (or othermerchants), the payment network 106, and/or the issuer 108. In addition,as indicated above, and similar to the smartphone/tablet, the vehicle116 may also include one or more network-based applications (which maybe the same as included in the smartphone/tablet or different (againbroadly, a transaction engine 122, or part thereof)) configured toenable the vehicle 116 to be a payment device.

In a general exemplary transaction in the system 100 between theconsumer 112 and the merchant 102, the consumer 112 may present one ofthe payment devices 114 (e.g., the key fob payment device in thisexample, etc.) to the merchant 102, for example, at a POS terminal. Inturn, the POS terminal (broadly, the merchant 102) receives, via contactor contactless communication with the key fob (e.g., via NFC, Bluetooth,RFID, etc.), for example, a token or other credential associated withthe consumer's payment account associated with the key fob (or anotherpayment account associated with the key fob) and then communicates anauthorization request (e.g., including the payment account token and anamount of the purchase, etc.) to the acquirer 104. The authorizationrequest is transmitted along path A in the system 100, as referenced inFIG. 1. The acquirer 104 communicates the authorization request with theissuer 108, through the payment network 106, such as, for example,through MasterCard®, VISA®, Discover®, American Express®, etc., todetermine whether the payment account is in good standing and whetherthere is sufficient funds and/or credit to cover the transaction. Inturn, if approved, an authorization reply (indicating the approval ofthe transaction) is transmitted back from the issuer 108 to the merchant102, along path A, thereby permitting the merchant 102 to complete thetransaction. The transaction is later cleared and/or settled by andbetween the merchant 102, the acquirer 104, and the issuer 108. Ifdeclined, however, the authorization reply (indicating a decline of thetransaction) is provided back to the merchant 102, along path A, therebypermitting the merchant 102 to halt or terminate the transaction, orrequest alternative forms of payment.

Transaction data is generated, collected, and stored as part of theabove exemplary interactions among the merchant 102, the acquirer 104,the payment network 106, the issuer 108, and the consumer 112. Thetransaction data includes a plurality of transaction records, one foreach transaction, or attempted transaction. The transaction records, inthis exemplary embodiment, are stored at least by the payment network106 (e.g., in a data structure associated with the payment network 106,etc.), but could be stored in other parts of the system 100 andtransmitted there between as needed or requested.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary computing device 200 that can be used inthe system 100 of FIG. 1. The computing device 200 may include, forexample, one or more servers, workstations, computers, on-board vehiclecomputers, tablets, laptops, smartphones, PDAs, fobs, fitness trackingwristbands, POS terminals, vehicles, etc. In addition, the computingdevice 200 may include a single computing device, or it may includemultiple computing devices located in close proximity or distributedover a geographic region, so long as the computing devices arespecifically configured to function as described herein. In theexemplary embodiment of FIG. 1, each of the merchant 102, the acquirer104, the payment network 106, and the issuer 108 are illustrated asincluding, or being implemented in, computing device 200, coupled to thenetwork 110. In addition in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1, variousones of the consumer's payment devices 114 (e.g., the smartphone/tablet,etc.), the vehicle 116, and advertising media 118 (which will bedescribed in more detail hereinafter) may be considered computingdevices consistent with computing device 200. However, the system 100should not be considered to be limited to the computing device 200, asdescribed below, as different computing devices and/or arrangements ofcomputing devices may be used. In addition, different components and/orarrangements of components may be used in other computing devices.

The exemplary computing device 200 includes a processor 202 and a memory204 coupled to (and in communication with) the processor 202. Theprocessor 202 may include one or more processing units (e.g., in amulti-core configuration, etc.). For example, the processor 202 mayinclude, without limitation, a central processing unit (CPU), amicrocontroller, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processor, anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logicdevice (PLD), a gate array, and/or any other circuit or processorcapable of the functions described herein.

The memory 204, as described herein, is one or more devices that permitdata, instructions, etc., to be stored therein and retrieved therefrom.The memory 204 may include one or more computer-readable storage media,such as, without limitation, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), staticrandom access memory (SRAM), read only memory (ROM), erasableprogrammable read only memory (EPROM), solid state devices, flashdrives, CD-ROMs, thumb drives, floppy disks, tapes, hard disks, and/orany other type of volatile or nonvolatile physical or tangiblecomputer-readable media. The memory 204 may be configured to store,without limitation, payment account information (e.g., tokens, PANs, orother payment credentials, etc.), consumer information (e.g., names,addresses, content information, vehicle signatures, vehicle accesscredentials, etc.), advertising content (e.g., ads, offers, coupons,etc.), merchant information (e.g., merchant names, merchant IDs, productprices, merchant/product locations, etc.), and/or other types of datasuitable for use as described herein. Furthermore, in variousembodiments, computer-executable instructions may be stored in thememory 204 for execution by the processor 202 to cause the processor 202to perform one or more of the functions described herein, such that thememory 204 is a physical, tangible, and non-transitory computer readablestorage media. Such instructions often improve the efficiencies and/orperformance of the processor 202 that is performing one or more of thevarious operations herein. It should be appreciated that the memory 204may include a variety of different memories, each implemented in one ormore of the functions or processes described herein.

In the exemplary embodiment, the computing device 200 includes an outputdevice 206 that is coupled to (and is in communication with) theprocessor 202. The output device 206 outputs information, eithervisually or audibly, to a user of the computing device 200, such as, forexample, the consumer 112 in the system 100 when at or using one of thepayment devices 114, when in or near the vehicle 116, or when viewingthe advertising media 118, etc. It should be further appreciated thatvarious interfaces (e.g., as defined by network-based applications,etc.) may be displayed at computing device 200, and in particular atoutput device 206, to display such information. With that said, theoutput device 206 may include, without limitation, a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), a light-emitting diode (LED) display, an LED, an organicLED (OLED) display, an “electronic ink” display, speakers, or any otherdevice suitable to output information to the user, etc.

The computing device 200 also includes an input device 208 that receivesinputs from the user (i.e., user inputs) such as, for example, selectionof a payment device and/or payment account, etc. The input device 208 iscoupled to (and is in communication with) the processor 202 and mayinclude, for example, a keyboard, a pointing device, a mouse, a button,a stylus, a touch sensitive panel (e.g., a touch pad or a touch screen,etc.), a sensor (or a sensor array) (e.g., to detect enginesounds/vibrations, etc.), an RFID reader, another computing device,and/or an audio input device. Further, in various exemplary embodiments,a touch screen, such as that included in a tablet, a smartphone, avehicle dash, or similar device, behaves as both an output device and aninput device. In at least one embodiment, a computing device may omitthe output device 206 and/or the input device 208.

In addition, the illustrated computing device 200 also includes anetwork interface 210 coupled to (and in communication with) theprocessor 202 and the memory 204. The network interface 210 may include,without limitation, a wired network adapter, a wireless network adapter(e.g., an NFC adapter, a Bluetooth adapter, a Wi-Fi adapter, etc.), amobile network adapter, or other device capable of communicating to/withone or more different networks, including the network 110. In oneexample, the network interface 210 includes an RFID reader/interface,etc. Further, in some exemplary embodiments, the computing device 200includes the processor 202 and one or more network interfaces 210incorporated into or with the processor 202.

With reference again to FIG. 1, the system 100 includes the vehicle 116.As described, the vehicle 116 is consistent, at least in part, with thecomputing device 200. While illustrated as a car, the vehicle 116 mayinclude any type of vehicle such as, for example, a car, a motorcycle, abus, a train, a boat, a subway vehicle, etc. In addition, the vehicle116 may belong to the consumer 112 or an associate of the consumer 112(e.g., a friend, an employer, etc.), or the consumer 112 may beassociated with the vehicle 116 in one or more other ways (e.g., wherethe vehicle 116 is a rental vehicle, etc.) whereby the consumer 112 maybe the driver of the vehicle or simply a passenger in the vehicle 116but not the owner of the vehicle 116 (and/or, for example, where thevehicle is shared with other users, etc.). Alternatively, oradditionally, the vehicle 116 may be associated with a third party, suchas a taxi company, a car service, bus line, mass transit operator, etc.,again, whereby the consumer 112 may be, for example, a passenger in thevehicle 116.

In the exemplary embodiment, the vehicle 116 is associated with avehicle signature, which is unique, or at least semi-unique, to thevehicle 116.

The vehicle signature may include a profile representative of a soundand/or a vibration associated with the vehicle 116. For example, thevehicle 116 may include a motor or other component drive device, whichis configured to propel the vehicle 116 in a direction of travel, forexample, along a road, street, highway, track, etc. As the motoroperates (i.e., as the vehicle 116 is running), in this example, itprovides a substantially unique or semi-unique sound and/or vibration,which is sufficient to distinguish the vehicle 116 from multiple othervehicle (i.e., semi-unique) or from all other vehicles (i.e., unique).Likewise, other parts of the vehicle 116 may generate sound and/orvibration while the vehicle 116 is in use, which may be unique orsemi-unique to the vehicle 116. Further, the sound and/or vibration maybe unique to a feature or part of a vehicle (e.g., the sound of a6-cylinder motor versus the sound of an 8-cylinder motor, versus thesound of an electric vehicle (e.g., a power converter, etc.); the soundof a 6 cylinder motor in a Honda® vehicle versus the sound of a 6cylinder motor in a Mercedes® vehicle; etc.), whereby the sound and/orvibration is consistent with certain other vehicles, but still distinctfrom others (i.e., semi-unique). The vehicle signature may be based on,representative of, or corresponding to any of the above described soundsor vibrations. As another example, the vehicle signature may beassociated with audible tones generated by other sources within thevehicle 116 (e.g., the radio, an audible output device specificallyassociated within the vehicle 116 to produce such vehicle signature,another output device of the vehicle 116, etc.), either when the vehicle116 is running or not. Again, the audible tones may be unique orsemi-unique to the vehicle 116. Further, the vehicle signature, whenincluding such a sound and/or vibration profile, may further be specificto one or more conditions of the vehicle and/or environments of thevehicle (e.g., temperature, humidity, season, etc.).

In the illustrated embodiment, the vehicle 116 also generally includesgauges and/or sensors indicating conditions of the vehicle 116 (e.g.,mileage, fuel level, oil level, etc.), or indicating environmentalconditions (e.g., temperature, humidity, etc.). In connection therewith,the vehicle signature may be generated based on (or based at least inpart on) such conditions. For example, the vehicle signature may includea gasoline level, an oil service life, an A/C setting, a battery level,a tire pressure, a speed, a mileage, etc., or the same subject to anoperator (e.g., a shift function, a multiplier, a token generator,and/or other suitable algorithm, etc.), etc. And, the vehicle signaturemay further include a numeric or alpha-numeric number associated withthe vehicle 116, such as, for example, a vehicle identification number(VIN), a license plate number, (or other identifier, etc.) associatedwith the vehicle 116, or the VIN (and/or license plate number) subjectto an operator (e.g., a shift function, a multiplier, a token generator,and/or other suitable algorithm, etc.). As apparent from the above, incertain examples, the vehicle signature may be dynamic or variable,whereby it is changed at one or more regular or irregular intervals. Forexample, when the vehicle signature is based on the VIN, the shiftfunction, multiplier or token generator may be altered each month (orprovided with a new seed), so that the vehicle signature (even thoughbased on the VIN) changes each month, or at some other interval (e.g.,to provide security, etc.). Additionally, or alternatively, the vehiclesignature may change as the condition of the vehicle 116 changes. In theabove example, a vehicle signature based on the mileage will continue tochange as the vehicle 116 accumulates miles (without alteration of anyalgorithms associated therewith).

In various embodiments, the vehicle 116 itself is configured to generatethe vehicle signature (e.g., determine, calculate, record, etc.), andfurther includes a transmitter (e.g., output device 206, etc.) and/ortransceiver (e.g., combination of output device 206 and input device208, or network interface 210, etc.), which emits the vehicle signature.The transmitter/transceiver may transmit and/or emit the vehiclesignature as represented by any suitable form of wireless signal via thenetwork 110, and/or via Bluetooth, NFC, RFID, etc. When the vehiclesignature is a physical feature of the vehicle 116 (e.g., a sound and/orvibration therefrom, etc.), the vehicle 116 may rely on its inherentoperation to emit the vehicle signature, or may record or otherwisecapture the vehicle signature (via the input device 208, etc.) and thentransmit the same in response to a particular request. Consequently,given the proper receiver (e.g., input device 208, network interface210, etc.) and/or sensor, an entity (e.g., in proximity with the vehicle116 or otherwise, etc.) is able to receive the vehicle signature and topotentially identify the vehicle 116 based on the vehicle signature(e.g., via the identifier associated with the vehicle 116 and/or themotor sound/vibration of the vehicle 116, etc.), or at least confirm thevehicle 116 is consistent with the vehicle signature. That said, thevehicle 116 may be configured to transmit the vehicle signature via thenetwork 110, for example, to the issuer 108, in response to a request,whereby the issuer 108 is not required to “capture” the vehiclesignature (but instead, merely receives it, via network interface 210,for example), etc.

In various embodiments, the vehicle 116 may further operate as a paymentdevice (as described above), consistent with the payment devices 114, oras a mechanism for authentication of the payment device 114 that isactually used (and/or as a mechanism for authenticating the consumer112). In such embodiments, the vehicle signature would be known apartfrom the vehicle 116 to permit verification of the vehicle signature,by, for example, the merchant 102, the payment network 106, the issuer108, and/or the payment device 114, etc., or would be separatelyprovided to the merchant 102, the payment network 106, and/or the issuer108, etc. (broadly, as a reference vehicle signature). Specifically, forexample, the consumer 112 may pair the vehicle 116 with a payment tokenfor his/her payment account, whereby the vehicle signature for thevehicle 116 is captured, received, stored, and/or recorded (apart fromthe vehicle 116) so that the vehicle signature may be recalled (as areference) for comparison to facilitate purchases (when the paymenttoken in used) and/or to authenticate the one of the other paymentdevices 114 (or the vehicle 116) being used. As such, in this example,when the vehicle signature received and/or captured at the outset of atransaction (where the vehicle 116 or one of the other payment devices114 is used to perform the transaction) matches a reference vehiclesignature stored in the payment network 106, the issuer 108 and/or thepayment device 114, the vehicle 116, the payment device 114, and/or theconsumer 112 is thereby authenticated. In general, when the vehiclesignature is dynamic, one or more bases for the dynamic nature of thevehicle signature (e.g., a shift function, algorithm, mileage ortemperature of the vehicle 116, etc.) is stored for recall and/or isaccessible to a decision engine 120 for use as described herein (e.g.,in connection with such authentication, etc.).

With continued reference to FIG. 1, the system 100 also includes theadvertising media 118 configured to display advertising content. Asshown, the advertising media 118 is a dynamic billboard that may bepositioned proximate to a road, highway, interstate, waterway, trainroute, etc., by which the vehicle 116 passes when traveling. Whileillustrated as a billboard, it should be appreciated that theadvertising media 118 may include a variety of other media types, whichmay be viewed or otherwise perceived by the consumer 112 while intransit in the vehicle 116, or while walking, etc. The advertisingcontent at the advertising media 118 may be generic, or it may bespecifically related or directed to the consumer 112, as the consumer112 and/or vehicle 116 approaches the advertising media 118. Forexample, the advertising content may relate to data stored (e.g.,favorites, etc.) at the consumer's smartphone/tablet, to data associatedwith prior payment account transactions of the consumer 112 using one ormore of the consumer's payment accounts (e.g., as stored at the paymentnetwork 106, etc.), etc. As shown, the advertising media 118 is coupledto the network 110, and the advertising media 118 may be configured todisplay, change, etc., content as described herein (e.g., in response todetecting or receiving a vehicle signature of vehicle 116, etc.). Asdescribed, the advertising media 118, in this exemplary embodiment, isconsistent with the computing device 200. In some embodiments,advertising media 118 may further be configured to incorporate and/orcommunicate with output device(s) 206 within or associated with thevehicle 116, or at the consumer's smartphone/tablet, etc.

In this exemplary embodiment, the system 100 further includes thedecision engine 120, which is specifically configured, by executableinstructions, to perform one or more of the operations described herein.As indicated by the dotted lines in FIG. 1, the decision engine 120 islocated in whole, or in part, in the payment network 106, the issuer108, the vehicle 116, and/or the advertising media 118 (and/or, in someembodiments, in the smartphone/tablet payment device 114). Specifically,for example, the decision engine 120 may include multiple decisionengines 120, with each separate decision engine 120 located within oneof the payment network 106, the issuer 108, the vehicle 116, and/or theadvertising media 118 (or even a payment device 114, etc.). Theseseparate decision engines 120 may then work together and/or cooperate tooperate as the decision engine 120, while continuing to be separate, asdescribed herein. It should be appreciated that the decision engine 120may be located in whole or in part, and/or associated, otherwise inother embodiments.

Still further, the system 100 includes a transaction engine 122, whichis also specifically configured, by executable instructions, to performone or more of the operations described herein. As indicated by thedotted lines in FIG. 1, the transaction engine 122 is located in whole,or in part, in the payment network 106, the issuer 108, and/or thesmartphone/tablet payment device 114 (and/or, in some embodiments, inthe vehicle 116). For example, the transaction engine 122 may includemultiple transaction engines 122, with each separate engine 122 locatedwithin one of the payment network 106, the issuer 108, and/or thesmartphone/tablet payment device 114 (or even the vehicle 116). Theseseparate transaction engines 122 may then work together and/or cooperateto operate as the transaction engine 122, while continuing to beseparate, as described herein. Specifically, for example, thenetwork-based wallet application (e.g., e-wallet or virtual wallet)(referred to above) may be usable by the consumer 112, at thesmartphone/tablet payment device 114, based on cooperation and/orinteraction between a transaction engine 122 at the issuer 108 (orpayment network 106) and a transaction engine 122 at thesmartphone/tablet payment device 114 (such that the wallet applicationmay be considered the sum of multiple parts). It should further beappreciated that the transaction engine or engines 122 may be located inwhole or in part, and/or associated, otherwise in other embodiments.

Further, while the decision engine 120 and the transaction engine 122are illustrated as separate parts of the system 100 in FIG. 1, it shouldbe appreciated that the decision engine 120 and transaction engine 122may be (wholly or partially) integrated, whereby the decision engine 120and the transaction engine 122 may be included in the payment network106, the issuer 108, etc. (e.g., in at least one computing device (e.g.,in at least one server, etc.), etc.). This, however, would not precludeadditional decision engines 120 and/or transaction engines 122 frombeing located in the vehicle 116 and the smartphone/tablet,respectively, for example, whereby the functionality described hereinmay be enabled.

At the outset, the decision engine 120 and/or the transaction engine 122is configured to register the vehicle 116 to enable one or more of theoperations described herein. In particular, for example, as part of theregistration, the decision engine 120 and/or the transaction engine 122is configured to receive a vehicle signature for the vehicle 116 andstore the vehicle signature as a reference vehicle signature (e.g., inmemory 204, etc.) for use as described below. The registration, forexample, may include installing and/or activating the decision engine120 at the vehicle 116 (as a network-based application), or throughinstalling and/or activating one or more other network-basedapplications at the vehicle 116 and/or smartphone payment device 114(e.g., Fordpass® application, myAudi® application, etc.).

In connection therewith, the vehicle signature (for use as the referencevehicle signature) may be received from the vehicle 116 (e.g., in themanner described above, etc.) (as an operation of the decision engine120 included therein) and/or the reference vehicle signature may bereceived from the merchant 102, the smartphone/tablet payment device114, and/or any other device suitable to collect the vehicle signature(depending on the type of vehicle signature and/or the type of availableinput devices (e.g., microphone, etc.)) and communicate the vehiclesignature to the decision engine 120 and/or the transaction engine 122.Further, the decision engine 120 and/or the transaction engine 122 maybe configured to receive and store the vehicle signature for the vehicle116 at one or more regular intervals (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly,quarterly, etc.) or irregular intervals (e.g., in connection with a lasttransaction by the consumer 112 involving the vehicle signature, etc.),depending, for example, again on a form of the vehicle signature, etc.The interval(s) at which the vehicle signature is updated may be based,in whole or in part, for example, on the type of vehicle signature(e.g., dynamic versus static, etc.), the ease/difficulty of updating thevehicle signature, and/or the tolerance associated with “sufficientlymatch” as described below, etc.

In general in the system 100, the decision engine 120 is configured toreceive a detected interest of the consumer 112 (i.e., a known orpotential interest) (e.g., from an application within thesmartphone/tablet payment device 114, from an application within anotherpayment device, from a location and/or condition of the vehicle 116,from a user input, from transaction history for the consumer 112, etc.).In response, the decision engine 120 is configured to identify one ormore relevant merchants based on the interest of the consumer 112, andfurther configured to request or retrieve sales data from the identifiedmerchant(s) (e.g., merchant 102 in the following description, etc.). Thesales data may include, without limitation, pricing for one or moreproducts relating to the detected interest of the consumer 112,corresponding inventory, etc. The decision engine 120 is configured tothen pass the sales data from the merchant 102 to the vehicle 116, whereit is displayed to the consumer 112 (e.g., at the vehicle 116, at thesmartphone/tablet payment device 114, etc.). And, when the consumer 112selects a product for purchase from the merchant 102, at the vehicle 116(based on the displayed sales data), for example, the decision engine120 is configured, in response to the selected product, to create anorder object for the product. In connection therewith, the decisionengine 120 is configured to also request the vehicle signature from thevehicle 116 and to append the vehicle signature to the order object. Inso doing, the decision engine 120 may also be configured toauthenticate/verify the vehicle signature received from the vehicle 116based on a reference vehicle signature for the vehicle 116, for example,stored in memory 204 in association with the decision engine 120, etc.When the received vehicle signature matches, or sufficiently matches (asdescribed herein) the reference vehicle signature, the vehicle signatureis authenticated/verified (and may then be appended to the orderobject). It should be appreciated, however, that suchauthentication/verification of the vehicle signature is not required inall embodiments.

In addition, after the product is selected by the consumer 112, and theselection is provided to the transaction engine 122 (e.g., by thevehicle 116, etc.), the transaction engine 122 is configured to create atransaction object for the purchase of the selected product from themerchant 102. The transaction object includes, without limitation, anamount of the potential transaction, payment account credentials for theconsumer 112, etc. Further, the transaction engine 122 is configured toalso request the vehicle signature from the vehicle 116 and to appendthe vehicle signature to the transaction object. In so doing, thetransaction engine 122 may also be configured to authenticate/verify thevehicle signature received from the vehicle 116 based on a referencevehicle signature for the vehicle 116, for example, stored in memory 204in association with the transaction engine 122, etc. When the receivedvehicle signature matches, or sufficiently matches (as described herein)the reference vehicle signature, the vehicle signature isauthenticated/verified (and may then be appended to the transactionobject). It should be appreciated, however, that suchauthentication/verification of the vehicle signature is not required inall embodiments.

In this exemplary embodiment, the transaction engine 122 is configuredto then provide the transaction object to the decision engine 120. Inturn, the decision engine 120 is configured to match the order objectwith the received transaction object, based on the vehicle signature forthe vehicle 116 (and, potentially, further match the vehicle signatureto the reference vehicle signature). When a match is determined (e.g.,when the vehicle signatures included in the order object and thetransaction object are the same, when all three vehicle signatures match(or sufficiently match) (taking into account the reference vehiclesignature), etc.), the decision engine 120 is configured to transmit apurchase order to the merchant 102 for the selected product, where thepurchase order is based on the order object and the transaction object(e.g., includes a combination of information from the matched orderobject and transaction object, etc.). The merchant 102, in response, maybe configured to further authenticate/verify the vehicle signature asincluded in the purchase order received from the decision engine 120,based on a reference vehicle signature for the vehicle 116, for example,stored in memory 204 of the computing device 200 associated with themerchant 102, etc. When the received vehicle signature matches, orsufficiently matches (as described herein), the reference vehiclesignature, the vehicle signature is authenticated/verified, and themerchant 102 is then configured to communicate an authorization requestfor the transaction to the issuer 108, as described above (andconsistent with path A in FIG. 1), and further facilitate delivery ofthe product to the consumer 112. It should be appreciated, however, thatsuch authentication/verification of the vehicle signature is notrequired in all embodiments.

In various embodiments, in connection with transmitting the purchaseorder to the merchant 102, the decision engine 120 may be configured todetermine a loyalty/rewards program association between the consumer 112and one or more of the relevant merchants, prior to identifying themerchant(s) based on an indicated interest of the consumer 112.Specifically for example, when an application, consumer input, and/orcondition of the vehicle 116, etc., for example, indicates a consumerinterest, and the interest is associated with a vehicle signature, thedecision engine 120 may be configured to detect the consumer interestand/or identified specific merchant 102, based on the loyalty/rewardsprogram (e.g., select the particular merchant 102 at which the consumer112 has a loyalty account, etc.). Additionally, or alternately, thedecision engine 120 and/or transaction engine 122 may identify aloyalty/rewards program based on the vehicle signature included in arespective one of the order object and the transaction object, wherebythe engine 120/122 is configured to identify the transaction to theloyalty/rewards program and include account detail for theloyalty/rewards program in one of the objects (or in the purchaseorder), so that points, miles, etc., may be accumulated. More generally,the vehicle signature may be employed, by the decision engine 120 and/orthe transaction engine 122, to identify merchants and/or products to theconsumer 112 and/or facilities transactions so that the consumer 112 isable to earn points, miles, etc. to the loyalty/rewards program.

In various embodiments, the decision engine 120 may be configured toalso authenticate the payment device 114 and/or the consumer 112 inconnection with the transaction (e.g., as described above using thevehicle signature for the vehicle or otherwise (e.g., or via a personalidentification number (PIN), a biometric, etc.), etc.), and/or tooperate as a POS terminal for the merchant 102 to facilitate thetransaction for the selected product.

Moreover in the system 100, the decision engine 120 may be configured topermit access to the vehicle 116 by the merchant 102 as directed by theconsumer 112 (or other owner/operator of the vehicle 116). For example,the decision engine 120 may be configured to provide access to thevehicle 116, in response to a payment account transaction by theconsumer 112 and/or schedule such access in response to the paymentaccount transaction by the consumer 112, thereby enabling fulfillment,by the merchant 102, of the payment account transaction (e.g., deliveryof the product(s) selected by the consumer 112, etc.). In particular,when such a transaction for a product occurs, the decision engine 120may be configured to provide the vehicle signature for the vehicle tothe merchant 102 so that the merchant 102 can initially find/identifythe vehicle 116 (e.g., match the vehicle signature received from thedecision engine 120 to the vehicle signature of the vehicle 116, etc.).Then, when the vehicle 116 is identified, the decision engine 120 may beconfigured to cause a trunk lid or back gate or door of the vehicle 116to be opened and/or unlocked, for example, in response to a one-timetoken from the merchant 102 for the given transaction (which may bebased on the vehicle signature for the vehicle 116, or not, and/or basedon a scheduled time associated with the transaction). In this manner,the product(s) (e.g., groceries, etc.) may be purchased, as describedabove (e.g., by a purchase order to the merchant 102, etc.) anddelivered to, and then further placed in, the vehicle 116 without theconsumer 112 being present for the transaction.

Further in the system 100, the decision engine 120 is configured toidentify advertising content (e.g., product offerings, coupons, rebates,specials, etc.) for the consumer 112. In particular, the decision engine120 is configured to identify advertising content specific to theconsumer 112 (e.g., based on detected consumer interests (i.e., known orpotential interests of the consumer 112), etc.), for example, based onnumerous parameters associated with the consumer 112, the consumer'sprior purchase history, and/or the location and/or condition of thevehicle 116, all of which may be contextual in nature or intuitive innature, which may be indicative of consumer interest in a product and/ormerchant. In so doing, the decision engine 120 is configured to collectthe above data, including from the consumer 112, the vehicle 116, anetwork-based application at the consumer's smartphone/table, etc.Contextual parameters, for example, relate to the location of theconsumer 112, the location of the vehicle 116, the route of travel ofthe consumer 112 and/or the vehicle 116, merchants along the route,merchants in close proximity to the consumer 112 and/or the vehicle 116,consumer favorites stored in memory 204 of the smartphone/tablet forwhich the consumer 112 has provided permissions to share, and/or otherconditions of the consumer's location and/or the vehicle's location,etc. Intuitive parameters, conversely, are derived from a prior historyof the consumer 112, including, for example, prior travel history, priortransaction history through the consumer's payment account(s), etc.Then, for example, when the advertising media 118 detects and/orreceives the vehicle signature for the vehicle 116, from the vehicle116, the advertising media 118, via the decision engine 120, isconfigured to display advertising content specific to the consumer 112.It should be appreciated that the decision engine 120 may be furtherderived by a variety of different advertising contents based on numerousdifferent contextual and intuitive parameters, to thereby further assistthe consumer 112 in purchases of products presented to the consumer viathe advertising content, by use of the vehicle's connectivity.

In the description above, the vehicle 116 and/or the decision engine 120are described with reference, generally, to one payment accountassociated with the consumer 112. In this and other system embodiments,however, other consumers and/or payment accounts may be employed by thevehicle 116, without limitation to the consumer 112 (and withoutlimitation to the particular user(s) operating the vehicle 116, ridingin the vehicle 116, etc.).

Specifically, for example, the vehicle 116 may be accessed by and/orused by multiple different users (including the consumer 112) such as,for example, when the vehicle 116 is a rental vehicle, etc. Inconnection therewith, upon detection of a consumer interest by thevehicle 116 for the consumer 112 (when the consumer 112 is using thevehicle), the decision engine 120 is configured to operate as describedabove to identify relevant merchants associated with the consumer'sidentified interest and pass sales data from the merchant(s) to theconsumer 112 at the vehicle 116. And, when the consumer 112 selects adesired product (from the sales data), the decision engine 120 isconfigured to create an order object for the product. In theseembodiments, however, when the transaction engine 122 creates thetransaction object for the selected product, the transaction engine 122may be configured to include payment credentials for a payment accountassociated the vehicle signature of the vehicle 116. In this manner, fora rental car, for example, a rental merchant (who rented the vehicle 116to the consumer 112) may fund all transactions for gasoline at aparticular gasoline merchant, because the rental merchant's paymentaccount is associated with the vehicle signature. Once charged to therental merchant's payment account, the rental merchant may, in turn,generate a transaction for the consumer's payment account and/or billthe consumer for the charge(s) for the vehicle 116. Of course, otherexamples are within the scope of the present disclosure, in which avehicle signature is associated with a particular payment account and/ormultiple consumers are able to use a single vehicle (with a singlevehicle signature).

As stated above, it should again be appreciated that the decision engine120 and/or the transaction engine 122 may be included in the paymentnetwork 106, the issuer 108, the smartphone/tablet payment device 114,the vehicle 116, and/or the advertising media 118, in whole or in part,to operate as described herein.

FIG. 3 illustrates exemplary method 300 for utilizing vehicleconnectivity in association with payment account transactions. Theexemplary method 300 is described with reference to the system 100 andthe computing device 200. However, the methods herein should not beunderstood to be limited to the system 100 and/or the computing device200. Likewise, the systems and device herein should not be understood tobe limited to the method 300. In the following description, it isunderstood further that the consumer 112 is disposed in the vehicle 116,and generally is in transit to one or more locations. It should beappreciated, though, that the method 300 may be subject to otherconditions, other vehicles, and/or other consumers (e.g., vehiclepassengers, etc.) within the scope of the present disclosure.

As part of the transit/travel of the vehicle 116, the vehicle 116detects, at 302, an interest associated with the consumer 112 for aproduct from one or more merchants (e.g., from the merchant 102, etc.).For example, the vehicle 116 may include one or more merchant-specificapplications (having a profile for the consumer 112, etc.), whichprovide an input to the vehicle 116 based on one or more triggerconditions (e.g., based on the vehicle being within proximity of arestaurant at which the consumer 112 frequently dines, etc.) therebyidentifying the interest for the consumer 112. In particular, andwithout limitation, the merchant-specific application may be associatedwith a pharmacy merchant, where when the application indicates that aprescription for the consumer 112 is ready at the merchant (as a triggercondition), the application communicates with the vehicle 116 toidentify the prescription (and picking up the prescription) as aninterest associated with the consumer 112.

In addition, or alternatively, the vehicle 116 may detect the consumer'sinterest in one or more of the following manners: based on differentdata from the vehicle 116, such as a low fuel level, a low tirepressure, a particular mileage indicative of a need for an oil change,etc.; based on one or more loyalty/rewards programs associated with theconsumer 112; based on preprogrammed triggers or rules provided by theconsumer 112 to the vehicle (e.g., via a network-based application atthe vehicle 116, at the consumer's smartphone/tablet, etc.), such asidentifying merchants within a particular distance of the consumer 112at which one or more products on the consumer's shopping list can bepurchased, etc.; based on contextual information associated with thevehicle 116, such as recommending a hotel when a travel time between acurrent location of the vehicle 116 and a location programmed into a GPSsystem of the vehicle 116 is more than twelve hours or, in the samescenario, when the current time reaches a particular time in the evening(e.g., 9:00 PM, etc.). Further, the decision engine 120 may detect aninterest associated with the consumer 112 in a variety of additionalmanners including, for example, based on the different triggerconditions described in the example scenarios below (e.g., based on theconsumer's travel from home to work (or vice-versa), the consumer'sselection of a rental vehicle, the time of day, the vehicle's gasolinelevel, etc.). Moreover, and as generally described above, the consumer'sdetected interest may also be based on prior transactions with themerchant 102 (or with other merchants), particular consumer inputs,and/or predefined consumer preferences, etc.

In any case, upon detection of an interest for the consumer 112, thevehicle 116 provides the interest to the decision engine 120 (whereverthe decision engine 120 is located). In response, the decision engine120 identifies, at 304, one or more relevant merchants for the consumer112 based on the interest. For example, when the consumer's interestincludes coffee, the decision engine 120 identifies coffee merchantswithin a particular distance of the current location of the vehicle 116(e.g., within one mile, etc.). In addition, at 304, the decision engine120 requests sales data from the identified merchant(s), for example,merchant 102 in the following, relating to the consumer's interest. Inconnection therewith, the request may include, for example, anidentification of a particular product at the merchant 102 (e.g.,coffee, etc.), or a general request for sales data (e.g., depending onthe product offerings of the merchant 102, etc.). As shown, the merchant102 then responds, at 306, with the sales data for the identifiedproduct. As described above, the sales data may include, for example,product names, product descriptions, images, pricing, etc.

In response, the decision engine 120 passes the sales data to thevehicle 116, at 308. In turn, the vehicle 116 (or the decision engine120, depending on location (e.g., when located at the vehicle 116,etc.)) displays (or causes to be displayed), at 310, at least a portionof the sales data to the consumer 112. For example, the vehicle 116 maydisplay a series of interfaces at an output device 206 of the vehicle116, whereupon the consumer 112 is able to browse the products includedin the sales data, and ultimately select, at 312, one of the products,if desired. The selection (broadly, a user input) is recognized by thevehicle 116 and provided, by the vehicle 116, to the decision engine120.

With continued reference to FIG. 3, in response to a selection of aproduct from the sales data by the consumer 112, the decision engine 120creates an order object for purchase of the product, at 314 (i.e., forthe selected product). The order object includes, for example, the nameof the product, a description of the product, a name of the merchant(e.g., the merchant 102, etc.), a price for the product, etc. At 316,the decision engine 120 requests a vehicle signature from the vehicle116, in which (or at which) the product was selected. In response, thevehicle 116 transmits the vehicle signature to the decision engine 120,at 318. If the vehicle signature is a static vehicle signature, forexample, the vehicle 116 is able to simply retrieve the vehiclesignature from memory (if previously determined) and transmit thevehicle signature to the decision engine 120. Conversely, if the vehiclesignature is dynamic, the vehicle 116 generates the vehicle signature,at 320 (e.g., computes an indicator associated with the vehicle 116based on the VIN, etc.), and then transmits the generated vehiclesignature to the decision engine 120 at 318. When the vehicle signatureis a vibration and/or sound associated with the motor of the vehicle116, for example, the vehicle 116 may generate the vehicle signature byrecording the vibration and/or sound associated with the motor, by theinput device 206 of the vehicle 116, etc. Regardless of form, uponreceipt of the vehicle signature, the decision engine 120 appends, at322, the vehicle signature to the order object. In one or moreembodiments, prior to appending the vehicle signature, the decisionengine 120 may further authenticate/verify the vehicle signature basedon a reference vehicle signature for the vehicle 116, for example,stored in memory 204 in association with the decision engine 120 (orretrieved, by the decision engine 120, from elsewhere). When thereceived vehicle signature matches, or sufficiently matches thereference vehicle signature, the vehicle signature isauthenticated/verified, and the decision engine 120 then appends thevehicle signature, at 322, to the order object. In at least oneembodiment, the decision engine 120 may then store the received vehiclesignature in memory 204 as a new reference vehicle signature, in placeof the prior reference vehicle signature (thereby updating/refreshingthe reference vehicle signature for the vehicle 116).

As part of authenticating/verifying the vehicle signature in connectionwith appending the vehicle signature to the order object, the matchingof the received vehicle signature to the reference vehicle signature maybe based on acceptable variances for the vehicle signature (depending onthe form of the vehicle signature), and on a product of a frequency atwhich the reference vehicle signature is received/refreshed. Forexample, when the vehicle signature comprises the VIN for the vehicle116, an exact match may be required to authenticate/verify the vehiclesignature (regardless of when the reference vehicle signature wasobtained). However, when the vehicle signature comprises a mileage ofthe vehicle, a match (or sufficient match) of the received vehiclesignature to the reference vehicle signature may be based on when thereference vehicle signature was obtained and on an acceptable deviationand/or tolerance, such as, for example, an expected change in suchmileage up to a present time (e.g., based on average driving habits formotorists, etc.). Or, when the vehicle signature comprises asound/vibration profile for the vehicle 116, a match or, morespecifically, a sufficient match of the received vehicle signature tothe reference vehicle signature may be based on when the referencevehicle signature was obtained (e.g., date, time of year, location,etc.) and/or one or more acceptable deviations and/or tolerances insound matches generally known to and/or followed by those of ordinaryskill in the art of matching different sounds.

Separately in the method 300, following the selection of the particularproduct by the consumer 112 from the sales data for the merchant 102, at312, the product selection is also provided to the transaction engine122 (e.g., by the vehicle 116 and/or the decision engine 120, etc.). Inresponse, the transaction engine 122 authenticates the consumer, at 324.Such authentication may include, for example, the transaction engine 122causing a personal identification number (PIN) to be solicited from theconsumer 112 at the consumer's smartphone/tablet (e.g., “Please EnterYour PIN.”, etc.) or at the vehicle 116. When the consumer 112 entershis/her PIN in response, the transaction engine 122 confirms the PIN,and then authenticates the consumer 112. It should be appreciated thatthe consumer 112 may be authenticated through one or more additional, oralternative, scenarios within the scope of the present disclosure (e.g.,via biometrics, etc.).

At 326, the transaction engine 122 then creates a transaction object forthe selected product (and, more specifically, for a potential paymentaccount transaction for the selected product). The transaction objectincludes, without limitation, an amount of the payment accounttransaction for the product (e.g., based on a price of the selectedproduct, sales tax, etc.), an identification of the merchant 102 and/orthe acquirer 104 associated with the merchant 102 from which the productis to be purchased, payment account credentials for the consumer 112(e.g., as received/retrieved from the consumer 112 and/or from anetwork-based wallet application associated with the consumer 112,etc.), etc. In connection therewith, the transaction engine 122 alsorequests a vehicle signature from the vehicle 116 (or decision engine120 therein), at 328, for inclusion in the transaction object. As above,the vehicle 116 transmits the vehicle signature, at 318, to thetransaction engine 122. Again, however, if needed, the vehicle 116 alsogenerates the vehicle signature, at 320, in connection therewith. Then,once the vehicle signature is received, the transaction engine 122appends, at 330, the vehicle signature to the order object. In one ormore embodiments, prior to appending the vehicle signature, thetransaction engine 122 may further authenticate/verify the vehiclesignature based on a reference vehicle signature for the vehicle 116,for example, stored in memory 204 in association with the transactionengine 122. When the received vehicle signature matches, or sufficientlymatches (as described above) the reference vehicle signature, thevehicle signature is authenticated/verified, and the transaction engine122 then appends the vehicle signature to the transaction object, at330. In addition, in various embodiments, the transaction engine 122 maythen store the received vehicle signature in memory 204 as a newreference vehicle signature, in place of the prior reference vehiclesignature (thereby updating/refreshing the reference vehicle signaturefor the vehicle 116).

With that said, it should be appreciated that the requests for thevehicle signature from the decision engine 120 and the transactionengine 122 will generally be in close proximity to one another. Basedthereon, and on the desire for the vehicle signatures to match, when thevehicle signature is dynamic, the vehicle 116 may generate only onevehicle signature in a defined interval (e.g., one vehicle signatureevery minute, every five minutes, every 30 minutes, etc.), therebyimproving the likelihood that the same vehicle signature (even whendynamic) is transmitted to both the decision engine 120 and thetransaction engine 122.

Next in the method 300, the transaction engine 122 transmits thetransaction object to the decision engine 120 for matching. It should beappreciated, however, that in other embodiments the decision engine 120may instead transmit the order object to the transaction engine 122 formatching. In any case, in turn, the decision engine 120 matches, at 332,the order object and the transaction object based on the vehiclesignature included in the objects. When a match is found, the decisionengine 120 compiles a purchase order for the selected product (based oninformation in the order object and the transaction object) andtransmits, at 334, the purchase order to the merchant 102. The purchaseorder includes all of the required and/or desired information for themerchant 102 to potentially authenticate/verify the purchase order andinitiate a payment account transaction for the product, including,without limitation, an identification of the product, consumer contactinformation, payment account credentials for the consumer's paymentaccount, the vehicle signature for the vehicle 116, etc. Then, at 336,the merchant 102 receives the purchase order and processes the order. Indoing so, the merchant 102 authenticates/verifies the vehicle signatureincluded in the purchase order based on a reference vehicle signaturefor the vehicle 116, for example, stored in memory 204 in the computingdevice 200 associated with the merchant 102 (or retrieved from thedecision engine 120 (e.g., at the payment network 106, etc.)). When thevehicle signature in the purchase order matches, or sufficiently matches(as described above) the reference vehicle signature, the vehiclesignature is authenticated/verified and the merchant 102 causes anauthorization request for the purchase of the selected product to betransmitted to the issuer 108 of the consumer's payment account, asdescribed above in the system 100 (and with reference to path A in FIG.1). And, the merchant 102 further provides for delivery of the productto the consumer 112 consistent with one or more directions included inthe purchase order, as conventional, or otherwise (e.g., as otherwisedescribed herein, etc.). In one or more embodiments, the merchant 102also stores the vehicle signature in association with the purchase order(e.g., in memory 204, etc.) and then later, authenticates/verifies thevehicle 116, by the vehicle signature, in connection with delivery ofthe product(s). Consistent with the above, the specific manner in whichthe merchant 102 receives and/or captures the vehicle signature atdelivery and then matches (or sufficiently matches) the stored vehiclesignature may vary based on the type of vehicle signature stored.

Apart from, or in addition to, the above, the systems and methods hereinmay extend to the further configurations and/or operations describedbelow, for use of vehicles, vehicle signatures, and/or vehicleconnectivity to facilitate payment account transactions.

In one example, the vehicle 116 (specifically, the decision engine 120,incorporated into the vehicle 116, for example) detects one or moreinterests of the consumer 112 in gasoline, for example, based on a lowgasoline level in the vehicle 116 and/or the vehicle's location at agasoline merchant (e.g., a gas station, etc.). The vehicle 116identifies one or more relevant merchants (e.g., the merchant 102)(e.g., based on a loyalty/rewards account associated with the consumer112 and/or the vehicle signature for the vehicle 116, transactionhistory, location, etc.) and then communicates with the merchant 102 tosolicit sales data, as described above, such as a price of gasoline,sales tax, etc., and permission for gasoline to be dispensed to thevehicle 116 when the vehicle 116 is present at the gasoline pump device(e.g., based on GPS, Bluetooth communication, etc.) (e.g., whenrecognized by the vehicle signature, or when authenticated by thevehicle signature, or otherwise, etc.). In another example, the merchant102 may include a fast food merchant, whereupon when the vehicle 116 isproximate to the merchant 102, or in route to the merchant 102, aroundan eating time (e.g., midday, evening, etc.), the vehicle 116 detectsthe interest of the consumer 112 in the fast food merchant 102 (e.g.,based on a predetermined preference of the consumer 112 for the merchant102 from the consumer's transaction history, user profile, etc.). Thevehicle 116 then communicates with the fast food merchant 102 to solicitsales data, such as, for example, menus, prices, sales tax, etc. (asdescribed above). The sales data is then displayed to the consumer 112,at the vehicle 116, to permit selection of menu items (e.g., from aninput device 208 within the vehicle 116, etc.), potentially resulting ina purchase order to the merchant 102 (e.g., directly, or via thedecision engine 120 apart from the vehicle 116, etc.), again, asdescribed above. With that said, in connection with the above examples,it should be appreciated that a variety of different interactions maytake place, and may be made available, between the vehicle 116, thedecision engine 120 (when included or not included in the vehicle 116),and the merchant 102, often depending on a type of the merchant 102,products offered for sale by the merchant 102, a physical setup/locationof the merchant 102, and/or an ability to detect a consumer interest inthe merchant 102 (or other merchant(s)) and/or one or more productsoffered by the merchant(s), etc.

In another example, when the consumer 112 is near or in the vehicle 116and at least one of the payment devices 114 is also present near or inthe vehicle 116, the particular payment device 114 and/or the vehicle116 may communicate with (or allow communication therewith by) thedecision engine 120 (apart from the vehicle 116, or incorporatedtherein). As part of the communication with the consumer's paymentdevices 114, for example, and in connection with a desired transactionby the consumer 112 at the merchant 102, the decision engine 120 mayaccess and/or acquire payment credentials from one or more of thepayment devices 114. The decision engine 120 (e.g., incorporated in thevehicle 116, etc.) may be permitted to do so by providing the vehiclesignature to the payment device 114, or otherwise authenticating itselfto the payment device 114, whereby the payment device 114 (or thedecision engine 120) matches the vehicle signature to a referencevehicle signature, etc. Then, at the consumer's instruction, or by thevehicle's location in proximity to the merchant 102, the vehicle 116,and in particular, the engine 120, is able to cause the paymentcredentials to be provided to the merchant 102 (e.g., to a POS terminalassociated with the merchant 102, etc.) in connection with the desiredtransaction (e.g., directly via NFC, Bluetooth, RFID, etc. when theconsumer 112 is near the merchant 102 or within a particular range ofthe merchant 102; via the network 110; etc.). Furthermore, the vehicle116 may serve as an authentication mechanism for the paymenttransaction. In particular, rather than, or in addition to, the vehicle116 receiving payment credentials, the vehicle 116 may provide itsvehicle signature to the payment device 114 and/or a POS terminal of themerchant 102. In doing so, a further form of authentication may beomitted. For example, gasoline pumps may require the consumer 112 toenter a postal code to permit a payment transaction. When the vehicle116 provides a vehicle signature, which pairs with the payment device114, that further authentication by the consumer 112 may be completedthereby, such that the entry of the postal code is omitted.

In yet another example, when the consumer's smartphone/tablet isavailable as one of the payment devices 114, and present in the vehicle116, the decision engine 120 (included in the vehicle 116, or not) mayautomatically, or in response to an input, communicate with thesmartphone/tablet (i.e., the network-based application associatedtherewith enabling the smartphone/table to be the payment device), toaccess and/or acquire payment credentials associated with the paymentdevice 114 and/or to provide the product selected by the consumer 112,whereupon the smartphone/tablet (including, for example, transactionengine 122) is permitted to create the transaction object as describedabove. Again, this may be permitted in general, or potentially based onthe payment device's receipt/detection of the vehicle signature from thevehicle 116 to authenticate the vehicle 116 and/or the consumer 112(e.g., at operation 324 of FIG. 3, etc.). In still another example, whenthe consumer's key fob is available as one of the payment devices 114,the decision engine 120 may access or acquire payment credentials in thekey fob, via a network interface 210, which may include an NFC device,or RFID device, and pass the credentials to the transaction engine 122,for use as described herein. Further, the vehicle 116 may communicatewith the key fob payment device 114, via input devices and/or networkdevices. Specifically, with respect to the consumer's key fob, thedecision engine 120 (included in the vehicle 116) may, only when the keyfob is inserted into the ignition of the vehicle 116 and/or the key fobis positioned sufficiently to enable ignition of the vehicle 116, accessand/or acquire the payment credentials for the key fob.

As another example, the decision engine 120, installed in the vehicle116, for example, may be configured to identify that at 7:30 AM JohnSmith, when departing his residence on a Monday, is in route to work,and then further to identify one or more likely routes for John Smith towork. Next, the decision engine 120 (or an application in communicationwith the decision engine 120) may combine the intuitive parameter thatJohn Smith is traveling to work with the contextual parameter of JohnSmith's likely route to work, and detect products and/or merchants ofinterest to John Smith (e.g., a cup of coffee at merchant 102, etc.).The detected interest of John Smith (i.e., the consumer 112) may thentrigger method 300, for example. Further, the detected interest, whencombined with the vehicle signature to identify the vehicle 116 (e.g.,to detect the vehicle 116 is nearby, etc.), may further causeadvertising content to be delivered to John Smith in the vehicle 116(visually or audibly), for example, at the advertising media 118, etc.

Then, after work, the consumer 112 may drive to a restaurant for dinnerprior to going home. However, on his/her way to the restaurant, thevehicle 116 (via the decision engine 120 and/or another applicationassociated with or installed therein) may indicate to the consumer 112that gasoline is needed to travel to the restaurant (that the gasolineneeded to travel the distance to the restaurant exceeds the availablegasoline in the vehicle 116), thereby detecting a consumer interest forgasoline. In turn, the decision engine 120 may identify a gas stationmerchant along the consumer's route to the restaurant and communicatewith the gas station merchant to retrieve sales data and/or facilitate apayment account transaction for gasoline at a gasoline pump device atthe gas station merchant (which is then ready to pump when the consumer112 arrives). In connection therewith, the decision engine 120 may alsocause vehicle-related messages to be displayed to the consumer 112, atthe output device 206 of the vehicle 116 or the output device 206 of thepump device (e.g., maintenance due, tire pressure warning, etc.) andschedule maintenance for the vehicle 116 and pre-pay for suchmaintenance, as needed. After stopping for fuel, the consumer 112 may belate in arriving to the restaurant. As such, the consumer 112 mayprovide input to the engine 120 to order and pay for a desired meal atthe restaurant, even though the consumer 112 is not yet present.

In another example, the vehicle 116 may include a rental vehicle (orother ride-share vehicle) provided to the consumer 112 while travelingfor work. In connection therewith, the decision engine 120, at thevehicle 116, may perform various ones of the operations describedherein, in connection with the consumer's work travel.

For example, when traveling for work, the consumer 112 may initially flyto a work destination early in the morning. Upon arrival at thedestination airport, the consumer 112 may rent the vehicle 116. Uponrental of the vehicle 116, the vehicle signature for the vehicle 116 maybe associated with the consumer's payment account (for use as describedin FIG. 3, for example), or may be associated with a payment accountassociated with the rental merchant, or a still other payment account.

Once in the vehicle 116, the consumer 112 may drive to a businessmeeting at a business location. While in route, the decision engine 120,recognizing that it is morning time, may detect a potential interest ofthe consumer 112 to purchase coffee/breakfast. The detected interest ofthe consumer 112 may then trigger method 300, for example, whereby thevehicle signature is used in an order object by the decision engine 120(based on the consumer's selection) and a transaction object by thetransaction engine 122, notwithstanding the vehicle 116 being a rentalvehicle, so that the coffee/breakfast is ready when the consumer 112reaches the selected merchant and the consumer 112 can simply pick it up(e.g., curbside, etc.). As the consumer 112 travels to the businesslocation, he/she may travel through various toll booths. Uponapproaching the toll booths, the decision engine 120 may interact withone of the consumer's payment devices 114 and/or the transaction engine122 to effect payment, through the consumer's payment account, or therental merchant's payment account, based on the vehicle signature of thevehicle 116 (again, as described above). The vehicle signature may beemitted by the vehicle 116 (e.g., motor sound/vibration, etc.) andcaptured by the toll booth (not shown), or may be transmitted, forexample, via NFC communication with the toll booths, etc. In addition,as the consumer 112 (and the vehicle 116) nears the business location,the decision engine 120 may also identify an interest in parking,thereby again triggering the method 300, for example. The vehiclesignature, in addition to its use in method 300, may also be employed bythe parking merchant to assign and/or verify a parking spot within aparking lot.

When the consumer's business meeting is complete, the consumer 112 usesthe vehicle 116 to travel back to the airport. However, on his/her wayto the airport, the vehicle 116 may detect that gasoline is needed priorto returning the vehicle 116 to the rental merchant at the airport,thereby manifesting an interest of the consumer 112 in a gasolinemerchant. In turn, consistent with method 300, the decision engine 120may identify a gas station merchant along the consumer's route to theairport, which is designated by the rental merchant (e.g., pursuant to aloyalty/reward program between the rental merchant and the gas stationmerchant, etc.), whereby the rental merchant's payment account isidentified by the vehicle signature and used to purchase gasoline (i.e.,the consumer's payment account is not). The consumer 112 may, in turn,pay separately for the gasoline at the rental merchant, via a separatepayment account transaction (e.g., along with the bill for the rental,etc.). In at least one embodiment, the vehicle signature is detected atthe gasoline merchant, which is then linked to the consumer's paymentaccount by the rental merchant, so that the original transaction forgasoline is ultimately directed to the consumer's payment account.

In still another example, the consumer 112 and his/her family may usethe vehicle 116 to take a family vacation to a vacation destination. Inconnection therewith, the decision engine 120, when incorporated in thevehicle 116, may perform various ones of the operations describedherein, in connection with the travel by the consumer 112 and his/herfamily.

Moreover, in such an example, the vehicle 116 may include a driverlessvehicle (or, alternatively, a driver-assisted vehicle), whereby at leasta portion of the driving decisions and/or actions made by the vehicle116 are directed by the vehicle 116 rather than the consumer 112. Assuch, the consumer 112 may initially drive the vehicle to an interstatein route to the vacation destination, and then activate the driverlesscapabilities of the vehicle 116 such that the vehicle 116 then makesdriving decisions to route the vehicle 116 to the vacation destination.At that time, the consumer 112 and/or other members of his/her familymay activate a network-based application, and browse products at theoutput device 206 of the vehicle (e.g., a windshield HUD, etc.). Inresponse, the consumer 112 can provide input to the vehicle 116(specifically, to the decision engine 120), via input device 208,thereby expressing a consumer interest in a product and/or merchant, andthen selecting an associated product(s) (based on provided sales data),thereby triggering the method 300, for example.

In particular, as the consumer 112 (and vehicle 116) travel toward thevacation destination, the consumer 112 (or other member of his/herfamily) may realize they forgot to pack certain clothing needed at thevacation destination. In response, the consumer 112 express an interestin a product of the type forgotten, potentially triggering method 300,for example, or other payment account transaction via the vehicle 116.Additionally, or alternatively, as the vehicle 116 continues to travel,it approaches the advertising media 118, which (via an engine 120)communicates with the decision engine 120 at the vehicle 116 anddisplays advertising content for a merchant, located along theconsumer's travel route, that may have the forgotten product. Theconsumer 112 can provide input to the vehicle 116 (specifically, to thedecision engine 120), via input device 208, which would also indicatethe consumer's interest in the product, thereby potentially triggeringmethod 300, for example, or other payment account transaction via thevehicle 116. In addition, the consumer 112 and his/her family may desireto stop to eat dinner as they travel. The consumer 112 may provide avoice command input to the decision engine 120 expressing an interest indinner locations along their route, based on a desired cuisine. Thedecision engine 120, as described above, identifies related merchants,again, consistent with method 300, for example, and provides varioussales data to the consumer 112 for such merchants (from which themerchant selects a desired product, for example, via method 300). Afterdinner, the vehicle 116 (via the engine 120) may indicate to theconsumer 112 that gasoline is needed, thereby again indicating aconsumer's interest in gasoline (in a similar manner to that describedabove).

As the consumer 112 approaches his/her hotel, the decision engine 120may detect an interest in hotel accommodations (e.g., based on thelocation, time of day, etc.) and, consistent with the exemplary method300, or other payment account transactions via the vehicle 116, transmita purchase order for the consumer 112 and his/her family for the rooms.In addition, the decision engine 120 may receive key credentials for therooms on one or more of the consumer's payment devices 114. As such, theconsumer 112 and his/her family can go straight to their rooms uponarrival at the hotel. Upon further travel, in this example, the vehicle116 may have a flat tire, thereby indicating a consumer interest in atow truck and/or tire repair merchant. Additionally, or alternately, theconsumer may express an interest, to the decision engine 120, for a rideshare application (e.g., Uber® application, etc.), when the tow trick istoo far from the present location of the vehicle 116. The consumer'sinterest may then trigger method 300, for example, or other paymentaccount transaction via the vehicle 116.

As can be seen, the decision engine 120 herein, in several embodiments,is consumer configurable and/or vehicle configurable. In particular, forexample, when the vehicle 116 is a multi-consumer vehicle (e.g., familyvehicles, shared vehicles, corporate vehicles, rental car, etc.), thedecision engine 120, by detecting, accessing, or acquiring a paymentcredential, may be configured to load and rely on a consumer profileassociated with the payment credential and/or payment account. Thevehicle 116 may include multiple profiles for consumers who frequentlyuse the vehicle 116. Alternatively, or additionally, the vehicle 116,and in particular, the decision engine 120, may retrieve the consumerprofile, based on the payment credential, from companion decision engine120 located at the payment network 106, the payment device 114, oranother party associated with and/or included in the system 100. In oneexample, the consumer 112, through use of the vehicle 116, causes aconsumer profile to be generated, based on prior history (e.g., paymenthistory, travel history, etc.). When the consumer 112 rents the vehicle116, the consumer's profile may be accessible to and used by thedecision engine 120 installed in the vehicle 116, to perform asdescribed herein. For example, at 7:30 AM in the rental vehicle 116, thedecision engine 120 may cause advertising content related to coffee tobe displayed to the consumer 112, even when away from his personalvehicle and usual coffee shops. The link of the consumer profile may beaccomplished by one of the consumer's payment devices 114, such as theconsumers' key fob, smartphone/tablet, etc., accessible by both theconsumer's usual vehicle and the rental vehicle 116, in this example.

Further, and as described above, the decision engine 120 and/or thetransaction engine 122 may be employed to pay tolls, through use of thepayment credential(s), associated with one or more of the paymentdevices 114, regardless of whether the consumer 112 is present withinhis/her vehicle 116 or a rental vehicle 116. Likewise, the decisionengine 120 and/or the transaction engine 122 may be configured to payfor parking using the credential(s), accessed by the decision engine 120and/or the transaction engine 122, from one or more of the paymentdevices 114.

Again and as previously described, it should be appreciated that thefunctions described herein, in some embodiments, may be described incomputer executable instructions stored on a computer readable media,and executable by one or more processors. The computer readable media isa non-transitory computer readable storage medium. By way of example,and not limitation, such computer-readable media can include RAM, ROM,EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used tocarry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or datastructures and that can be accessed by a computer. Combinations of theabove should also be included within the scope of computer-readablemedia.

It should also be appreciated that one or more aspects of the presentdisclosure transform a general-purpose computing device into aspecial-purpose computing device when configured to perform thefunctions, methods, and/or processes described herein.

As will be appreciated based on the foregoing specification, theabove-described embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented usingcomputer programming or engineering techniques including computersoftware, firmware, hardware or any combination or subset thereof,wherein the technical effect may be achieved by performing at least oneof the following operations: (a) in response to a detected interest of aconsumer, requesting sales data associated with the consumer interestfrom at least one merchant based on a location of a vehicle associatedwith the consumer; (b) creating an order object for a product selectedfrom the sales data; (c) appending a vehicle signature, for the vehicle,to the order object; (d) matching the order object to a transactionobject for the selected product based on the vehicle signature; and (e)transmitting a purchase order to the at least one merchant based on theorder object and the transaction object, thereby permitting the at leastone merchant to facilitate a payment account transaction for theselected product.

With that said, exemplary embodiments are provided so that thisdisclosure will be thorough, and will fully convey the scope to thosewho are skilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth suchas examples of specific components, devices, and methods, to provide athorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It willbe apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need notbe employed, that example embodiments may be embodied in many differentforms and that neither should be construed to limit the scope of thedisclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes,well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are notdescribed in detail.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularexemplary embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As usedherein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may be intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,” and“having,” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of statedfeatures, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, butdo not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features,integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groupsthereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described hereinare not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance inthe particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specificallyidentified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood thatadditional or alternative steps may be employed.

When a feature is referred to as being “on,” “engaged to,” “connectedto,” “coupled to,” “associated with,” “included with,” or “incommunication with” another feature, it may be directly on, engaged,connected, coupled, associated, included, or in communication to or withthe other feature, or intervening features may be present. As usedherein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one ormore of the associated listed items.

None of the elements recited in the claims are intended to be ameans-plus-function element within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. § 112(f)unless an element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for,” orin the case of a method claim using the phrases “operation for” or “stepfor.”

Although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein todescribe various elements and operations, these elements and operationsshould not be limited by these terms. These terms may be only used todistinguish one element or operation from another element or operation.Terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numerical terms when usedherein do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by thecontext. Thus, a first element operation could be termed a secondelement or operation without departing from the teachings of theexemplary embodiments.

The foregoing description of exemplary embodiments has been provided forpurposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or featuresof a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particularembodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be usedin a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described.The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to beregarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modificationsare intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.

1. A computer-implemented method for utilizing vehicle connectivity tofacilitate payment account transactions, the method comprising: inresponse to a detected interest of a consumer, requesting, by acomputing device, sales data associated with the consumer interest fromat least one merchant based on a location of a vehicle associated withthe consumer; creating an order object for a product selected from thesales data; appending, by the computing device, a vehicle signature, forthe vehicle, to the order object; matching, by the computing device, theorder object to a transaction object for the selected product based onthe vehicle signature; transmitting, by the computing device, a purchaseorder to the at least one merchant based on the order object and thetransaction object, thereby permitting the at least one merchant tofacilitate a payment account transaction for the selected product; andin connection with the payment account transaction at the at least onemerchant, causing, by the computing device, at least one of a trunk lid,a back gate and a door of the vehicle to be opened and/or unlocked,thereby permitting the at least one merchant to place the selectedproduct in the vehicle.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,further comprising detecting, by the vehicle, the interest of theconsumer in at least one product based on at least one of a transactionhistory associated with the consumer and a location of the vehicle. 3.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising passing,by the computing device, the sales data from the at least one merchantto the vehicle, such that the vehicle is able to display at least aportion of the sales data to the consumer; and receiving, at thecomputing device, a selection of the product prior to creating an orderobject for the selected product.
 4. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein creating the order object includes appending at least aportion of the sales data associated with the selected product to theorder object.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising requesting, by the computing device, the vehicle signaturefrom the vehicle; and receiving, by the computing device, the vehiclesignature from the vehicle prior to appending the vehicle signature tothe order object.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, whereinthe vehicle signature includes a condition of the vehicle.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the vehicle signatureincludes an identifier associated with the vehicle, the identifierincluding and/or based on the vehicle identification number (VIN). 8.The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprisingtransmitting, by the vehicle, the vehicle signature to the computingdevice in response to the request for the vehicle signature by thecomputing device.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, whereinthe vehicle includes the computing device; and further comprising:displaying at least a portion of the sales data to the consumer; andgenerating, by the computing device, the vehicle signature for thevehicle.
 10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: compiling the transaction object for the selected product;requesting the vehicle signature from the vehicle; and appending thevehicle signature for the vehicle to the order object.
 11. A system forfacilitating payment account transactions, through vehicle connectivity,the system comprising: at least one server for communicating with atleast one vehicle; wherein the at least one server includes at least onedecision engine, which configures the at least one server to: identifyat least one merchant; request sales data from the at least one merchantfor a product of interest to a consumer; receive and pass the sales datafrom the at least one merchant to the at least one vehicle; create anorder object for the product, in response to a user input from the atleast one vehicle; and request a vehicle signature associated with theat least one vehicle and append the vehicle signature to the orderobject; wherein the at least one server further includes a paymentengine, which configures the at least one server to: create atransaction object for a transaction for the product to a paymentaccount associated with the consumer; and request a vehicle signatureassociated with the at least one vehicle and append the vehiclesignature to the transaction object; wherein the at least one decisionengine further configures the at least one server to transmit a purchaseorder to the at least one merchant when the vehicle signature in theorder object matches the vehicle signature in the transaction object,thereby permitting the at least one merchant to facilitate a paymentaccount transaction for the selected product, and wherein the at leastone decision engine further configures the at least one server to permitaccess to the at least one vehicle for delivery of the selected productafter authorization of the payment account transaction for the selectedproduct.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the vehicle signatureincludes a condition of the at least one vehicle.
 13. The system ofclaim 11, wherein, to permit access to the at least one vehicle, the atleast one decision engine configures the at least one server to cause atleast one of a trunk lid, a back gate and a door of the at least onevehicle to be opened and/or unlocked.
 14. The system of claim 11,further comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage mediaincluding executable instructions to enable communication between the atleast one server and the at least one vehicle, which, when executed byat least one processor of the at least one vehicle, cause the at leastone processor to: generate the vehicle signature; transmit the vehiclesignature to the at least one server in response to the at least onedecision engine requesting the vehicle signature; and transmit thevehicle signature to the at least one server in response to thetransaction engine requesting the vehicle signature.
 15. The system ofclaim 14, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the atleast one processor of the at least one vehicle, further cause the atleast one processor to: receive the sales data from the at least oneserver; and display at least a portion of the sales data to theconsumer, at the at least one vehicle, thereby permitting the consumerto select the product of interest for purchase.
 16. The system of claim11, further comprising a payment network including the at least oneserver; and wherein the payment engine is associated with anetwork-based wallet application.
 17. A non-transitory computer readablestorage media including executable instructions for utilizing vehicleconnectivity to facilitate payment account transactions, which, whenexecuted by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:in response to a selection of a product, by a consumer, at a vehicle,create an order object for the selected product; request a vehiclesignature for the vehicle; authenticate the vehicle signature and appendthe authenticated vehicle signature to the order object; match the orderobject to a transaction object for the product based on the vehiclesignature, the transaction object associated with a payment account ofthe consumer; transmit a purchase order for the product to at least onemerchant, based on the order object and the transaction object, therebypermitting the at least one merchant to facilitate a payment accounttransaction for the selected product to the payment account of theconsumer; and in connection with the payment account transaction at theat least one merchant, cause a trunk lid, a back gate and/or a door ofthe vehicle to be opened and/or unlocked in response to a one-time tokenfrom the at least one merchant, thereby permitting the at least onemerchant to place the selected product in the vehicle without theconsumer being present at the vehicle.
 18. The non-transitory computerreadable storage media of claim 17, wherein the executable instructions,when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at leastone processor to: identify the at least one merchant based on a detectedconsumer interest; request sales data from the at least one merchant, atleast a portion of the sales data related to the selected product; andpass the sales data, once received from the at least one merchant, tothe vehicle, prior to creating the order object for the product. 19.(canceled)
 20. The non-transitory computer readable storage media ofclaim 17, wherein the vehicle signature includes a condition of thevehicle; and/or wherein the vehicle signature includes an identifierassociated with the vehicle, the identifier including or being based onthe vehicle identification number (VIN).
 21. The non-transitory computerreadable storage media of claim 17, wherein the one-time token is basedon the vehicle signature for said vehicle.